The most expensive artworks in pictures

Another sale shrouded in secrecy, the purchase of Jackson Pollock’s 1948 painting No. 5 was brokered by Sotheby’s. David Martinez reportedly bought the 8’ x 4’ piece of fibreboard, covered in drips of brown and yellow paint from Dreamworks co-founder David Geffen for $140 million, or £89 million, in November 2006. The New York Times reported the sale, but Martinez’s law firm later issued a statement saying he did not own it. The above image is of Pollock’s No. 4 painting, which sold in Sotheby’s for £25 million.